Wednesday Evening Business Brief

September 3, 2014, 7:01 PM

NEW YORK (AP) - The stock market is closing mostly lower, pulled down by a fall in Apple and other technology companies. The S&P 500 lost 1 ½ points to close at 2,000 today. The tech-dominated Nasdaq slid 25 ½ points to 4,572. But the Dow Jones industrial average edged up nearly 11 points to 17,078.

The price of oil is up. It rose sharply today on hopes that the possible accord between Russia and Ukraine would lead to increased economic activity and oil demand in Europe. Benchmark U.S. crude oil jumped $2.56 to close at $95.54 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, climbed $2.43 to $102.77 in London.

Tesla Motors has selected Nevada for a massive, $5 billion factory that it will build to pump out batteries for a new generation of electric cars. A person with familiar with Tesla's plans says Nevada beat out four other states which were vying for the project: California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. The person says work soon will resume on a site outside Reno.

A new government forecast says the nation's respite from troublesome health care inflation is ending. Projections released by nonpartisan experts with the Health and Human Services department say the pace of health care spending will begin to pick up again in 2015. Economic recovery, an aging society, and more people with health coverage are driving the trend.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. says it plans to appeal a $1.4 billion penalty recommended by California regulatory judges for a gas pipeline explosion in a San Francisco suburb that killed eight people. A PG&E spokesman says the utility wants the commission to take into consideration the $2.7 billion PG&E has or will spend on pipeline safety improvements.